FOX
NEWS GOES ALL IN ON TRUMP’S FINAL 2020 PUSH
The network is carrying hours upon hours of
the president’s campaign rallies live, a practice that competitors like CNN
have largely avoided since 2016.
BY CALEB
ECARMA
OCTOBER
28, 2020
For the past four years, a debate has raged in media circles
over news networks carrying Donald Trump’s speeches live on air. In
October 2016, just weeks before Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, CNN
president Jeff Zucker admitted that his network
may have made a “mistake” by broadcasting “too many of [Trump’s] campaign
rallies,” a remark that feels Nostradamus–like given what occurred shortly
afterward. “Because you never knew what he would say, there was an attraction
to put those on air,” he acknowledged. “Trump delivered on P.R., he delivered
on big ratings.” In the aftermath of the 2016 election, some pundits blamed
media outlets, in part, for Trump’s surprise victory.
With the country now less than one week out
from the 2020 election, mainstream networks like CNN have appeared to learn
from what Zucker deemed an unforced error, as most have largely avoided live rally coverage
from a president who managed to ride a reported $5 billion in
free media right into the Oval Office. Perhaps the networks have responsibly
changed course out of civic duty, refusing to give over their airwaves,
unfiltered, to a president who has consistently lied to smear opponents and
push wild conspiracies. But that’s likely not the only reason why most networks
have shied away from the circus: after years of Trump’s unscripted riffs and
shit talk on the stump, the novelty and initial shock value wore off. What once felt like a
wholly new, gonzo-style of political campaigning—which, performance-wise, lands
somewhere between stand-up comedian, megachurch preacher, and local crank
ranting at an open city council session—is now a played out, predictable
routine.
However, there is one network that, despite
hearing all the jokes hundreds of times before, is more than happy to
participate in the show night after night, alongside it’s approximately 3.6 million closest friends.
“You’ve been watching President Trump in Salem, Wisconsin speaking for almost
42 minutes so far in front of another big crowd,” said Fox News anchor Bret Baier as
he closed out his Tuesday night show, adding that his channel also “brought you
[Trump’s] speech in Lansing, Michigan live earlier today.” Appearing to sense
the backlash he might face for carrying the speech, the network’s “hard news”
flagship attempted to justify the programming decision by noting that earlier
in the day, Fox had also “brought you live speeches from Joe Biden in
both Warm Springs and Atlanta, Georgia and former President [Barack] Obama’s
speech in Orlando.” Baier went on to say that such live coverage is “what we do
to cover an important election fairly—fair, balanced, and unafraid. We are
seven days from Election Night, we promise we are going to cover it fairly and
get in the other news around the world.” CNN’s Oliver Darcy,
the network’s senior media reporter, dismissed Baier’s carefully
worded explanation: “It’s classic bothsidesism. Trump uses air time to brazenly
lie and spread misinfo, including about the coronavirus. Obama and Biden do
not."
For Baier, airing Obama’s live speeches along
with Trump’s might seem like the most inoffensive way to go about rally
coverage in such a contentious election. But the both-sides programming quickly
displeased the president. “Fox puts [Obama] on all the time,” Trump ranted to reporters on Tuesday, adding
that the coverage decision was “very disappointing.” (Obama, speaking at a
Florida event in support of Biden, had jokingly said Trump is “jealous of COVID’s media
coverage.”)
Since Trump magically recovered from the
potentially deadly COVID-19 virus, reemerging from Walter Reed National Military
Medical Center with help from a cocktail of steroids and experimental drugs, he
quickly returned to the stump. For its part, Fox News greeted the returning
campaigner by dedicating hours and hours of live coverage to what could be the
president’s final and most bizarre tour yet, as his speeches so far have
featured him turning
stages into dance floors and threatening
to “kiss the guys and the beautiful women” in attendance
because “they say I’m immune.” (While Trump may have defeated the coronavirus,
many of the reporters, supporters, and campaign and venue staff attending his
speeches risk catching the virus, as social distancing and mask requirements
have remained lax at the events, a disturbing reality that Fox has turned a blind eye to during its
coverage, despite such events defying the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention’s pandemic-mitigation guidelines.)
Lately, the Murdoch–owned network has opted to
cut into its original programming in exchange for showing its audience these
now daily live performances. Fox has dedicated nine hours and 28 minutes to
live coverage of Trump’s rallies between his comeback on October 12 and
October 21, “showing at least some portion of Trump’s 12 in-person rallies each
day,” according to a report conducted by Media
Matters last week. During those dozen campaign stops, five of which Fox carried
in their entirety, the network dedicated nearly seven hours of airtime to them
on its “hard news” programming, while its hosts picked up the remaining
two-and-a-half hours.
After going all-in on Trump’s rallies in the
2016 campaign and during the first year of his presidency, Fox News took
a break from its commitment to air all of them
just weeks before the 2018 midterm, a decision that reportedly led White House
staff to "look into" why the network would divert attention away from
its most valuable viewer. But with the presidency up for grabs this time
around, Fox News is enjoying record high ratings this month as it
once again gives viewers the live Trump show in its most unfiltered form.
